Arsène Wenger said yesterday that the furore surrounding William Gallas’s dressing-room indiscretions was a matter of “misunderstandings” more than genuine rifts between team-mates, but there is no ambiguity over the Arsenal defender’s resentment towards his former club as he prepares to face them tomorrow.

Gallas’s new autobiography makes it clear that he feels Chelsea acted dishonestly during the breakdown in their relationship that provoked his move across London in 2006, adding a note of personal rancour to a match already freighted with significance given Arsenal’s need for victory to ensure that their title prospects are not wrecked even before the winter.

Gallas was fined and stripped of the Arsenal captaincy for criticising team-mates last week, but Wenger, the manager, believes that the 31-year-old’s mental state is not a cause for concern as he returns to Stamford Bridge to endure what is likely to be a virulent reception. “Focus on what you do,” Wenger advised. “Personally, I don’t think it’s very difficult and I’ve got a lot of stick in my career. He’s a strong character and it’s a good job — he will need to show that on Sunday.”

Wenger acknowledged that he was worried about how Gallas would react to his demotion, but said that his behaviour in training and in the Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday had helped to repair his standing among his team-mates.

“Anything can happen when you make this kind of decision,” Wenger said. “You can be off or you can say, ‘I want to win’. Your attitude can always gain you credit or lose you credit and I think in the kind of attitude he has shown, he has gained credit.”

Two successive defeats have left Arsenal fifth in the Barclays Premier League, ten points behind Chelsea.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was quick to turn the knife on his title rivals, suggesting that Arsenal are in disarray, but Wenger was quick to counter. “I don’t feel we are,” the Arsenal manager said. “You know better always from inside what is happening in your family than people from outside. We want to get back into the title race and we know the direct confrontations with the top teams are vital, especially when you are in our position. So there is only one way to get back on to it and that is to beat them.

“None of the teams I have seen look to be really dominating this league and when teams drop points at home, it means it is open to everybody. You cannot say that we are favourites to win the championship. You just have to believe we can.”

One contributing factor to Arsenal’s problems is a lengthy injury list that will be eased tomorrow with the returns of Bacary Sagna, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Wenger admitted to being interested in signing Salomon Kalou, the Chelsea forward, in the summer, but he was rebuffed and has cooled on the idea, but Peter Hill-Wood, the Arsenal chairman, said yesterday that money is available to spend in January.

Wenger did not try to play down the significance of tomorrow’s match. “If you play against your direct opponents, you have not only an opportunity to take three points, but to take three points away from them,” he said. “With the distance we have [ten points behind the leaders], the biggest opportunity to get back is to win against direct opponents,” he said.

“There are teams we have lost to, teams not favourites to finish in the top four, but teams like Villa and Man City can beat anybody. We had a few bad results and that, with the pace set by Liverpool and Chelsea, made us drop off, but the quality’s there. Maybe this year it will be the opposite to last season: we have not had a good start and we come back stronger. I believe in this team and we have a good opportunity on Sunday. If this team wins at Chelsea, after having beaten Manchester United, they will go from strength to strength.”

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Mathieu Flamini, who left Arsenal for AC Milan last summer, was at a loss to explain William Gallas’s actions in the past week, but believes that some good may come from it. “I’m still an Arsenal fan and it is difficult for me to see what is going on,” the midfield player said. “Maybe he spoke to get a reaction from the team.

Maybe he will get it, maybe not. Let’s see against Chelsea what the answer is.”